Mahabharata 3.201.37 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 37
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
अन्नमेव विशिष्ट हि तस्मात् परतरं न च
annam eva viśiṣṭaṁ hi tasmāt parataraṁ na ca | ataḥ annaṁ hi sarvebhyaḥ mahatvākī vastuḥ | tasmād bṛhataraṁ dvitīyā kācid vastuḥ na vidyate | vedeṣu annaṁ prajāpatiḥ iti ucyate | prajāpatiḥ saṁvatsaraḥ mataḥ | saṁvatsaraḥ yajñarūpaḥ, yajñe ca sarvasya sthitiḥ |
உணவே உண்மையில் தலைசிறந்தது; அதற்கு மேலானது எதுவுமில்லை. வேதங்களில் உணவைப் ‘பிரஜாபதி’ என்று கூறுகின்றனர்; பிரஜாபதி ‘சம்வத்ஸர’மாக (ஆண்டுச் சுழற்சியாக) அறியப்படுகிறார். சம்வத்ஸரம் யாகத்தின் இயல்புடையது; யாகத்திலேயே எல்லா உயிர்களின் நிலைபெறும் நலம் உறைகிறது.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Food (anna) is presented as the highest practical and sacred support of life. By linking anna with Prajāpati, the Year (saṁvatsara), and sacrifice (yajña), the verse teaches that sustenance, time, and sacrificial duty form a single ethical-cosmic framework: life is maintained through orderly giving, reciprocity, and reverence for the sources of nourishment.
Mārkaṇḍeya is instructing his listeners by elevating the status of food from mere material necessity to a Vedic principle. He explains a chain of identifications—food as Prajāpati, Prajāpati as the Year, the Year as sacrifice—to show that the stability of all beings rests upon the sacrificial order that sustains nourishment and life.
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